The Way Unrecoverable Breakdown Led to a Savage Parting for Rodgers & Celtic FC

Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to get another job. He'll see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was another illustration of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the power to make all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club AGMs, sending his son, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with private missives to media organisations, but no statement is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting information in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says his words "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to no one other.

This was Desmond who drew the criticism when his comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the slow process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the organization spent record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one since having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a insider close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his exit, this was the implication of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't back his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was losing the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes